A/N Just wondering...But, any of you who've seen the movie 'The Wizard of Oz' did any of you think that...Well...There was some...hmm...feelings, between Dorothy and the Scarecrow? Or was it just me? Because, since I was a little kid--I always kind of thought there was something between those two.
Something else that's random...My dad was saying he felt sorry for the Amish, because they didn't know how much fun they got made of on TV, cause they don't watch it.
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Mr. Grinch
James Vs. Christmas. Will James Potter Finally Get In the Christmas Spirit?
By
Sierra Sitruc
I'll have a blue Christmas
without you;
I'll be so blue thinking about you.
Decorations of red
on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing if
you're not here with me
I'll have a blue Christmas, that's certain;
And when that blue heartache starts hurting,
You'll be doing all right
with your Christmas of white,
but I'll have a blue, blue Christmas.
Chapter 11
2 Days Until Christmas
When Lily got back from her detention, she'd fallen asleep flat on her face, in bed without changing clothes or taking any preparations to get ready for bed whatsoever. Her waking could have turned very unpleasant, had it not been for the beautiful music that reached her ears, it reminded her of the nymphs' songs she'd hear in fourth year.
She breathed hot air into the bed covers, before pushing herself up, and looked for the source of the music. There, sitting in one long row on her pillow, was 11 nymphs...piping, it seemed, as there was no other way to describe it.
As soon as they saw Lily looking at them, they disappeared with a poof. Lily shrugged, and got ready for the day--it was almost time for lunch already.
Lily reflected on what had happened the night before, James had kissed her--but if he hadn't made a move sooner, she would have kissed him...They'd been caught by Professor McGonagall, who had spotted four students disobeying the rules and had come to bestow punishment upon them. They'd gotten detention, James had to go scrub toilets with his tooth brush, while Lily, had to scrub the floors--thankfully with a floor washing utensil. Sirius and Remus had been sent to the Divination Tower, to do God knows what.
She wasn't sure how things would end up between herself and James, she'd known for awhile that she was attracted to him--but anything more then that...She wasn't sure which road to take.
They hadn't talked about it--last night they'd run into each other in the common room, but it had been so late, that both of them had just smiled at one another and gone up to their dorms to sleep. McGonagall had never given half day detentions before--and they were tiresome! Lily had felt like she'd just been stepped on by a giant...30 times. Being that tired had made her and James both go to bed early, and she'd still slept in really late.
Once ready, Lily headed down for lunch, alone. The Marauders slept a lot longer then her, this she knew--so she might not be seeing them for an hour or so more--their hunger would get to them, if anything did.
She noticed that Dumbledore had finally moved away the other tables, and just left on in the center of the Great Hall.
Lily ate a small lunch, and was just about to leave when there was a tap on her shoulder, she expected James to be there--but instead it was--
"Professor Dumbledore?" Lily asked incredulously.
~*~
Lily was rushing back to the common room a bit worried--the news Dumbledore had given her, had shocked her and now she had to make a choice...Her thoughts were cut short however when she saw Remus and Sirius up ahead--they didn't see her, she heard Remus say, "His birthday is in a day and neither of us have gotten him a present."
What? Lily thought curiously--she was pretty sure she knew who they were talking about, but she couldn't believe it. She felt her temper flare. "What are you two talking about?" Lily asked, announcing her presence at the same time.
"Nothing." The two boys said in unison, looking nervous.
"James' birthday is Christmas Eve? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Lily asked, feeling hurt and angry at the same time.
"James doesn't celebrate his birthday--we give him presents without permission anyway." Sirius said quietly.
"I still--why didn't he tell me?"
"He hates Christmas Lily, and his birthday is Christmas Eve...Anything that reminds him of what--." Remus jammed his elbow into Sirius' side, to shut him up before he said more.
"I can't believe he HID that from me!" Lily hissed to herself. "Where is he?" She asked pointedly at them.
"Common room." Remus answered quickly, the look on Lily's face showing him, that she meant business. With that, Lily continued on her way, each step a little harder then the last.
James you git. Lily thought angrily.
~*~
Lily ran into James, who was yawning as he came down the stairs from the dorms. "James Potter, you have a lot of explaining to do." Lily said in a dangerous voice.
"Huh?" James asked confusedly.
"Your birthday is Christmas Eve, and you didn't TELL me?!" Lily shrieked, half wondering where this anger was coming from, half knowing exactly where it came from.
"Lily--I--well--there is no explanation for it, because I don't NEED one." James snapped, taking offense suddenly.
"Well, this makes my decision to go home, easy!" Lily growled viciously.
"What--go home?" James said, stopping in mid-fury.
"Yes! Go home, my Grandma's sick and my Mum wanted me to come home to help out a bit with dinner, as we're having a big gathering at home, something Grandma Ruthy forgot to add in her letter." Lily added to herself.
"You can't go home--there's no way! Dumbledore won't let you!" James argued, rather flustered.
"It was Dumbledore who informed me." Lily said haughtily.
James saw red. "Fine! Go home! I don't care! You're just a pain in the arse to have around anyway! Unless we're snogging of course." James added with a sneer.
Lily felt tears burn her eyes. "Yes...well, good bye James--I hope your Christmas is as bad as bad as Snape's and that's saying something!" She screeched the last part out like a banshee.
Lily ran to her dorm and slammed the door, and began to pack her trunk. She was going home.
~*~
"Lily's gone." James told Remus and Sirius, a note of despair in his voice.
"Yeah we know--we saw her leaving." Remus said.
"She told us, and I quote 'See you in a few weeks, I'm looking forward to seeing you, Potter on the other hand, I hope his presents explode in his face'. A very-- un-Lily like comment." Sirius said, "What'd you do to her James?"
"Nothing! It seems the two of you had something to do with it though." James said, his eyes flaring with mistrust. "Why'd you tell Lily my birthday was Christmas Eve?!" They were the only ones in the school that could have told Lily, and so the culprits were easily caught.
"We didn't! She over heard us talking!" Sirius said defensively.
"Thanks a lot guys." James moaned.
"What happened? Did you have a row?"
"Oh yeah." James said flatly. "We got into it and she said something about how her Grandma was sick and Dumbledore had informed her that she could go home, or something of the sorts. I got mad and told her she was a pain in the arse to have around, unless we were snogging."
"James--that was daft of you." Remus said shaking his head, sitting beside James on his bed, and Sirius followed suit.
"I know--but it just came out! I was finally warming up to the idea of Christmas...And she goes and leaves because she was ticked I didn't tell her when my birthday was! I'd been looking forward to spending Christmas with her." James said, looking upset.
"James, we know you fancy Lily a lot...We'll try and fix things, since we know it was partly out fault things got so messed up in the first place." Sirius said determinedly.
"Thanks guys." James said with a sigh, as he stuffed a pillow on his face.
Suddenly Sirius chuckled to himself. "What's so funny? James' love life is going down the drain and your laughing." Remus inquired, looking at his friend strangely.
"Well, I was just thinking. Poor Peter! He's going to come back from Christmas holidays, confused as anything." Sirius said. James lifted up his pillow and hit Sirius on the head with it. "That was uncalled for." Sirius grumbled, fixing his mussed hair.
"No, it wasn't." Remus and James said at the same time.
"He's right though." Remus said, "When he left, we only knew James kind of liked Lily, but acted as if she was a dancing Christmas tree, standing in his way of presents! He'll come back and James is head over heels for her! Not to mention, James likes Christmas now."
"Our James is growing up so fast, isn't he?" Sirius said, a sincere tone--but it still earned him a glare from both Remus and James.
"Shut up and help me think of what I can do for Lily! I have to make it up to her! I have to prove I still like her..."
"Love her." Remus corrected with a wolfish grin on his face.
"Shut up you git!" James said, giving Remus a powerful shove, and thus making Remus bump into Sirius, who promptly fell off the bed.
"This can only end in pain." Remus groaned, as Sirius climbed back on the bed and began hitting the lovesick James with the same pillow he himself had been hit with a few moments ago.
James luckily, had many pillows and had more then enough to begin beating on Sirius in return.
The difference between a girl's pillow fight and a boy's pillow fight, is that girls giggle the whole time, and boys intend to hurt and get a lot rougher with one another.
"Come on Remus! Help your canine friend out!" Sirius yelped, as he defended himself.
"It's all fun and games, until somebody's handicapped!" Remus shouted, as he picked up a pillow and joined in on hitting James. "Mainly, you James." He added with a teasing grin.
"Yes, let's all beat up on the guy you get in girl trouble." James muttered, fighting them off. "Why'd Lily leave me alone with you blokes?" A lonely tone in his voice, that made Remus and Sirius lay off the teasing for the rest of the day.
~*~
When Dumbledore had told Lily that her Grandma Ruthy had taken ill, Lily had felt alarmed first, but Dumbledore had relieved her by informing her that it was nothing but the common flu, but it was keeping her Grandma from helping to fix Christmas dinner, and with 30 guests, it was going to get chaotic without enough food.
So, her Mum had wrote a letter that pleaded with Dumbledore, to send Lily home on the train on short notice.
Dumbledore had said, "Miss Evans, this choice is up to you, whether or not you want to go. But, I'm sure your mother would really appreciate it if you did." Lily had replied with a weak, "I'll think about it." Before leaving his office.
She'd planned on making up a good excuse to not go, but then her row with James had caused her to make a spontaneous choice, to go home. She was regretting it now, as she took the long train home.
It was quiet, just the sound of the train speeding across the tracks. No one else was on the train, but Severus Snape--who'd been called home urgently by his father for some reason or another.
The snow had been a slight problem, but a melting charm on the tracks had done the trick. Now the only problem for Lily, was that she was bored as hell, and she still had six more hours to go.
After about an hour of sitting in self torment, Lily made up her mind to do the unthinkable.
Visit Snape.
She left her things in her compartment, and ventured out.
She went looking for Snape, opening door after door, and finally arrived to one in the corner of the train when she heard a 'Go Away Evans.' That sounded like Snape's irritated voice.
Lily opened the door, and asked, "How'd you know I was out there?"
"Your bloody bells! The whole school knows how to recognize you with those silly things." Snape sneered, his dark eyes searching her green ones interestedly. It seemed Snape wanted to know why she was here, and she was right. "What are you doing her anyway?" He asked, trying to act disinterested.
"I was bored--and you were the only one around." Lily said with a shrug, taking a seat across from him. Snape looked positively shocked at what she'd said.
"What makes you think I'd want to talk to a mudblood like you?" Snape growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.
"Boredom as well?" Lily tried, a hint of amusement mixed in with the hurt in her eyes. "What makes you think I'm so terrible anyway?" Lily inquired.
"A mudblood you mean?" Snape said, an eyebrow raised, and Lily nodded. "Because you are one."
"How? What makes me so different from you? Is there any valid reason for calling me dirty? What if I think your dirty because your a pureblood?" Lily asked him seriously.
"Well..." Snape's eyes looked confused a moment. "I guess I can't stop you from thinking that, and you can't stop me from thinking your a mudblood."
"Now we're getting somewhere." Lily said triumphantly. "So--anyone can think anyone's dirty blooded if they have a group they can belong in?"
"Yeah..." Snape said uncertainly.
"So--this whole pureblood/muggleborn thing, is all rather silly, isn't it?" Lily asked, hoping against hope, that there was some good in Severus Snape.
Snape stared at her for a few long moments, before saying. "I guess you have something there." Hallelujah! Snape has a touch of the Dumbledore goodness in him! Lily thought happily to herself.
"Will you talk to me like a human being then?" Lily asked hopefully, for the sake of her boredom.
Snape looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess--if you swear not to mention this to anyone." He said thickly.
"Right, right--wouldn't want it to get around that you were consorting with a Gryffindor---much less a muggleborn with red hair." Lily said, laughing slightly, and it seemed to break the ice between them.
"Red hair?" Snape said, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, red hair." Lily said confidently.
They talked for a few minutes, just getting comfortable with one another, before Snape asked her, "Why are you talking with me? I think it would upset your boyfriend--Potter."
"He's not my boyfriend." Lily said powerfully, making Snape blink stupidly for a moment.
"He's not?"
"No, never was never will be! He's a stupid git, with no respect for a girl at all." Lily said crossly.
"I'm starting to really like you Evans, too bad this will be the only time we'll ever talk. What's the lioness done now?" Snape asked, leaning back in his seat with a smirk on his face.
He listened well as Lily ranted on about what had been going on between her and James--and what'd he said to her earlier.
"Potter's the reason your here then?" Snape snorted.
"Yes, good riddance to him! I don't want to see his stupid bespectacled face ever again." Lily said fiercely.
"Oh that's a laugh! Watch you end up marrying the righteous idiot as soon as you get out of Hogwarts." Snape laughed, for the first time during the whole conversation.
"I resent that!" Lily gasped, but she couldn't shake the fact, that the idea appealed to her.
"Until then though--shall we rant about every annoying thing we can think of about Potter?" Snape suggested, a good-natured ness Lily had never seen before, coming out of his voice.
"Good idea...Severus." Lily said with a strong nod for good measure.
"I thought so too--Lily." Snape said unsurely. Then for 20 minutes they ranted about the most annoying features about James they could think of.
"His hair is so messy."
"His glasses make him look like a geek."
"He makes the Professors think he's such a goody-goody, when he goes around breaking rules behind their backs each night."
On and on the list went, and soon they were laughing as they got more and more ridiculous--Snape probably had a lot worse insults he could say, but he refrained to in a gentleman likeness, for Lily's sake.
An hour later, Lily came up with the question, "Why are you going home?"
"My dad asked me to." Snape said, averting his eyes.
"Why now?" Lily asked, trying not to be nosy.
"It's personal." Snape said, turning slightly crimson. And Lily suspected it had something to do with the Dark Arts, she wasn't stupid--she heard the rumors about Snape's dad, it was the same Uncle that abused Serene--which probably meant Snape was abused at home too.
"I hope your visit is more pleasant than mine." Lily wished for him, genuinely meaning it.
"Thanks--but, won't your visit be all puppies and kitties like?" Snape asked.
"Hardly, I haven't been home for Christmas in four or five years, it's going to be awkward. I'm really worried about it." Lily said, biting her lip, the nervousness she'd been feeling earlier coming back.
"Why are you going home now?" Snape asked gently, and Lily was starting to get the feeling that Snape fancied her--something she never would have dreamed of.
"My Grandma's sick, and my Mum's going to need more help now. It's necessary." Lily said with a shrug. "I'm just going to try and do what I need to, and stay out of everyone's way."
"Oh, I see." Snape said, he'd long ago lost his dark attitude, and was a lot more easy going then Lily would have expected him to be. She was glad they'd opened up like this--it really helped her feel better, she finally had a Slytherin's respect.
They talked for the rest of the long train ride, discussing school, Dumbledore, James Potter, and Quidditch. Severus, as Lily had started calling him, was a lot better company then she would have ever thought. She knew, that if the circumstances had been different, they could have been great friends.
She also knew, that once school resumed and they saw each other again--things would be a bit different, but they could never talk like this again. Once an enemy, always an enemy.
~*~
Lily and Snape got off the train, and found their respective parents. Severus' father had dark hair, and a big nose just like Severus did, but he had a darkness about him, that frightened Lily, Severus didn't frighten her--annoyed her, and ticked her off, yes, but never frightened her.
Lily hugged her Mum, and could just feel Severus comparing the two of them. The blonde hair versus the red hair, the green eyes versus the dark blue. There wasn't much in the looks department that made them look related, except for their figures, skinny and short.
Severus got one moment to wave at Lily, the last moment of friendliness between them, and Lily waved back, a half smile on her face. She knew that she'd never tell anyone about her conversation with Severus Snape, and knew that Severus would do the same, but deep down she admitted to herself, that it was one of the most memorable conversations she'd ever had. There was something about Severus, that made him stand out in your memory, whether it be for the good or the bad.
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A/N, Snape's out of character there, but...Oh well! It kind of came out of nowhere really...But that was fun! Terrible chapter I think--in more ways then one, but...I was rushed! I didn't get it done when I said I would! Tomorrow I'll try really hard and get this out--err--actually it's today! It's late and it's already tomorrow!
This chapter--Lily and James didn't get together, they fought instead--not a big fight, and hurtful things were said, now James has to fix it, because he was more at fault then Lily. I had to be careful with that, at first I started making Lily look like the bad one, so I made James lose his temper on her.
Snape and Lily are talking, so you find out a bit more what Lily's thinking--and it was more entertaining then if it was just Lily sitting by herself. PLUS, it finally ties up the ends, that Lily has always wanted a Slytherin to like her--and now one does. :-)
Is it just me--or do Remus and Sirius come off a bit--gay? I don't know--I was just thinking...:-p
Chapter 12:
12 drummers drumming...The song is 'Baby Please Come Home' and Lily doesn't see James--and vice versa (obviously). It'll end the story, but--you know...It won't. So, the epilogue will have to bring them together. :-D Or so you think...;-)
Thanks for all the reviews again! I can't believe you all like this story so much! I really can't! 418 for reviews? That's just 20 more about, so...Please? Chapter 12 should be out faster then this one is, because I'm going to stay up a bit longer and get it started.
Review! And have a Merry Christmas!
*~Sierra~*